Kirk Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 4 hours ago, James said: I´m kinda shocked Winter Dreams and Geffen are getting as much love as they are. They´re both good albums, but I always considered both a few steps below the first 4. But what the heck do I know?? :-) James, Geffen had 6 songs that I really dig. "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" is good pop! "I'm Through With Love" is one of Eric's best ballads, ever. "American As Apple Pie" is not only a perfect pop song, the arrangement is one of his best, ever. Try listening to that one sitting down- I never can- I always get up and start dancing! Side 2 is all Eric compositions. Starting with "She Remembered", another favorite of mine (and Eric). "You Took Me All The Way" struck all the right chords for me. I was dying for 'son of GATW' and Eric delivered! Finally, "The Way We Used To Be", another of Eric's best ballads, ever. How could I possibly rate this album any lower!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 4 hours ago, James said: ..also surprised EC Arista is averaging out at only #2.5....I always considered that quintessential Eric Carmen, his best effort by far regarding quality melodies...pure genius melodies, greatness wall to wall. James, you are so right. So often an artists first album after he goes solo contains his best stuff. Eric had extra time between Raspberries break up and his first solo album to write songs. In addition, sometimes an artist has a few tunes rat packed away that either weren't suitable for the band or he was saving them for another reason. Remember, if Raspberries had not split up, 'All By Myself' might have been on the next Raspberries album! Same scenario for the Geffen album. Eric had extra time to write between Arista and signing with Geffen. And you know how I feel about the Geffen album Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 As far as "Winter Dreams", I had it at #5 just because the 4 albums ahead of it could not be ranked any lower! But, I think Eric's writing process at that stage of his life suited his targeted audience quite well. I would have bought it for just the 2 opening songs. Ok, who am I kidding, I would have bought it no matter what was on it. I think it was a strong effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raspbernie Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 I decided to try a more scientific poll. I don't think I'd actually change the order of my list (I just love some of the songs so much, that quantity doesn't always beat quality), but the results were interesting: BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT (7 out of 8) 88% * Boats Against The Current * Marathon Man * Nowhere To Hide Take It Or Leave It * Love Is All That Matters * She Did It * I Think I Found Myself * Run Away ERIC CARMEN (ARISTA) (8 out of 10) 80% * Sunrise * That's Rock'n Roll * Never Gonna Fall In Love Again * All By Myself * Last Night * My Girl Great Expectations * Everything * No Hard Feelings On Broadway TONIGHT YOU'RE MINE (6 out of 8) 75% * It Hurts Too Much Lost In The Shuffle * All For Love * Tonight You're Mine * Sleep With Me * Inside Story * Foolin' Myself You Need Some Lovin' CHANGE OF HEART (6 out of 9) 67% * Desperate Fools Overture Haven't We Come A Long Way End Of The World * Heaven Can Wait Baby I Need Your Lovin' * Change Of Heart * Hey Deanie * Someday * Desperate Fools WINTER DREAMS (6 out of 11) 54% * I Was Born To Love You * Someone That You Loved Before Everytime I Make Love To You Cartoon World * Almost Paradise * Top Down Summer Isn't It Romantic I Could Really Love You Caroline, No * I Wanna Take Forever Tonight * Walk Away Renee ERIC CARMEN (GEFFEN) (5 out of 10) 50% * I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips * I'm Through With Love American As Apple Pie Living Without Your Love Come Back To My Love * She Remembered You Took Me All The Way * Maybe My Baby Spotlight * The Way We Used To Be I know a lot of people will object to me not starring some of the fan favorites like "Cartoon World," "Isn't It Romantic" or "American As Apple Pie," but those tunes never made my Top EC songs list. Bernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted August 7, 2018 Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 Very interesting approach, Bernie! You actually put Tonight You're Mine in a tie with Boats- should have been 88% (7 out of 8). I would agree that you can not equate quantity with quality, but, using your parameters, my list would look like: TONIGHT YOU'RE MINE (6 out of 8) 75% * It Hurts Too Much Lost In The Shuffle * All For Love * Tonight You're Mine * Sleep With Me * Inside Story * Foolin' Myself You Need Some Lovin' ERIC CARMEN (GEFFEN) (8 out of 10) 80% * I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips * I'm Through With Love *American As Apple Pie Living Without Your Love *Come Back To My Love * She Remembered *You Took Me All The Way * Maybe My Baby Spotlight * The Way We Used To Be ERIC CARMEN (ARISTA) (8 out of 10) 80% * Sunrise * That's Rock'n Roll * Never Gonna Fall In Love Again * All By Myself * Last Night * My Girl Great Expectations * Everything * No Hard Feelings On Broadway BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT (7 out of 8) 88% * Boats Against The Current * Marathon Man * Nowhere To Hide Take It Or Leave It * Love Is All That Matters * She Did It * I Think I Found Myself * Run Away CHANGE OF HEART (7 out of 9) 78% * Desperate Fools Overture Haven't We Come A Long Way *End Of The World * Heaven Can Wait Baby I Need Your Lovin' * Change Of Heart * Hey Deanie * Someday * Desperate Fools WINTER DREAMS (8 out of 11) 73% * I Was Born To Love You * Someone That You Loved Before Everytime I Make Love To You *Cartoon World * Almost Paradise * Top Down Summer Isn't It Romantic I Could Really Love You *Caroline, No * I Wanna Take Forever Tonight * Walk Away Renee We are pretty close on our lists and in our taste for Eric's music, Bernie! If I go by this method, Boats ends up in a tie for #1, which would not be surprising because it is a great collection of songs. But, other factors (such as accessibility, poppiness (is that a word?), production) still drop it down my list. I never liked the aural exciter used on the original album, and I thought a few of the arrangements were a little sparse for too much of the song. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raspbernie Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 On 8/7/2018 at 6:53 AM, Kirk said: You actually put Tonight You're Mine in a tie with Boats- should have been 88% (7 out of 8). Oops. I mistakenly starred "Lost In The Shuffle," which is not one of my faves. I corrected it. Bernie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 7 hours ago, Raspbernie said: Oops. I mistakenly starred "Lost In The Shuffle," which is not one of my faves. I corrected it. Bernie Oh no! I didn't feel like re-typing everything so I copy and pasted your listings and readjusted the asterisks where necessary, and I didn't catch that. "Lost In The Shuffle" is the first song I ever panned of Eric's, so it looks like I'm at 75% for my favorite album! I guess statistics are never going to tell the whole story. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les R. Posted September 7, 2018 Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 My favorites are: "Boats", the '76 LP, "Change of Heart" and the '84 LP. And speaking of Tonight You're Mine, I just found out that "It Hurts Too Much" was a major hit in South Africa, peaking at #3. It was his biggest hit there, although he had two other Top 10 hits as well. Did anyone else know this?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les R. Posted September 7, 2018 Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 Here's the Wikipedia article I just created for "It Hurts Too Much". I've created most of the articles for songs that Eric has written.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Hurts_Too_Much 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Benfer Posted September 7, 2018 Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 Breaking it down as Bernie did, when I have time I will take the same approach, but I will attempt to take it a step further. For the starred songs, I will rate it a 1, 2 or 3. 1=a song I contemplated not starring but decided to, 2= what most songs will get, and 3=a completely outstanding song. I will also rate the unstarred songs a -1, -2, -3. where -1=a song that contemplated starring but decided not to, -2= what most unstarred songs will probably get, and -3= a completely terrible song in my eyes and one that I will skip EVERY time. We'll see if the sums of these do a good job at a complete album rating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Benfer Posted September 7, 2018 Report Share Posted September 7, 2018 Well without posting every song, after summing things up I also divided that by possible points. After dropping the decimal point, here is how rankings turned out: 6. Winter Dreams (33) 5. Tonight Your Mine (38) 4. EC Geffen (43) 3. Eric Carmen (47) 2. Change Of Heart (48) 1. Boats Against The Current (53) So, I have always been aware that I liked COH more than most. There are no songs I skip, and I pretty much like everything to varying degrees on it. It also has Desperate Fools which I gave a 3 rating. Then there is TYM which seems to have more of a "love it" or "not so much" theme with me. Except for Winter Dreams, every other album has more 3's than Change Of Heart. But they also have more negative songs. I might do this again later and give each song more consideration, as I admit I went through this pretty quickly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 3 hours ago, Craig Benfer said: Breaking it down as Bernie did, when I have time I will take the same approach, but I will attempt to take it a step further. For the starred songs, I will rate it a 1, 2 or 3. 1=a song I contemplated not starring but decided to, 2= what most songs will get, and 3=a completely outstanding song. I will also rate the unstarred songs a -1, -2, -3. where -1=a song that contemplated starring but decided not to, -2= what most unstarred songs will probably get, and -3= a completely terrible song in my eyes and one that I will skip EVERY time. We'll see if the sums of these do a good job at a complete album rating. I think it would have been easier using Einstein's theory of relativity Nice list, Craig. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave from Equinox Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 On 9/7/2018 at 0:53 AM, Les R. said: Here's the Wikipedia article I just created for "It Hurts Too Much". I've created most of the articles for songs that Eric has written.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Hurts_Too_Much Les, add Robert Gordon to your list of persons who have covered this song: Whoever posted this video got the name of the song wrong. Gordon reminds me of Roy Orbison in the way he sings this. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 Sounds like he's trying to channel Elvis... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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